Maybe everyone should. I could potentially get behind a well thought-out program that provided for all mothers in that regard.
But, it seems like you really want this to work out to be ‘fair’ so that no one is getting ‘more’ than others or than they absolutely positively need. I just don’t know of any government program that works that way. As long as people receiving aid from the government still have choice (and I think it’s vitally important that they maintain an element of control), there are going to be those who make choices that others won’t approve of. Which, of course, you’re free to rant about, but I think that being upset because it’s unfair that they get to have stuff that you are choosing to do without is just going to be a fruitless and frustrating enterprise.
How many WIC moms are at the daycare? I think it’s odd that there isn’t even one WIC mom who brings powdered formula or at least liquid in a home bottle.
Could they be getting really great coupons along with their WIC checks?
At the time I gave birth, my dh had just lost his job, and I was struggling to overcome severe PPD. I breastfed, but my son showed evidence of failure to thrive. His pediatrican prescribed a very expensive supplemental formula, which the OP would be happy to learn only came in powdered form.
In my state we received vouchers for the formula and items such as milk, cereal, and eggs. I was humiliated by the cashiers every time I was at the store, and felt like the lowest of the low.
Every parent had to attend mandatory child rearing and nutrition classes. We were not all “welfare queens” or unwed mothers. We were for the most part just like you - struggling people who wanted the best for our children.
I was able to get back on my feet after 3 months, and even gave back my unused vouchers. Sarahfeena, there might be some who abuse the system, but I’d like to think the majority doesn’t.
If it makes you feel better, you can just think that there but for the grace of gd, go I.
Well, factually, yes, you are responsible for paying to feed other people’s kids.
And, yes, I am disagreeing (in a way) with your statement that having or not having kids is a choice. By which I mean, it’s a choice, but once that choice is made people’s situations often change. So, a person may be very responsible, and wait to have kids, but then face a burden they didn’t foresee. Also, it’s not the baby’s choice to be born, they have no choice, and punishing the innocent baby seems a bit cruel to me. WIC is about helping infants get a good, nutritious start in life. When it serves pregnant women, it is to fulfill this mission. And for women who have recently given birth, it’s to ensure they get healthy again in order to care for this new life.
And I absolutely think we should help people to help themselves. And I think WIC does that in many ways. Can you explain how it doesn’t? How does it not “help people” to provide them with healthy foods during a period of their lives when they are growing and developing rapidly? Isn’t a foundation like this the very basis of “helping people”?
If your going to help people, you are going to help the undeserving. Shit. Better just to get over it, otherwise you’ve got to spend money policing the help, money better spent on the help. And, of course, there’s no such thing as an undeserving baby.
Damn. Seeing 100 posts in about 4 hours, I was hoping to open this thread and find a “breast vs. formula” trainwreck, just like in the olden days. Oh well.
Mind if I ask where “here” is for you, Sarahfeena? In California, some 10+ years ago, the WIC vouchers for Michaela only authorized the purchase of canned liquid formula. We also had to choose in advance which supermarket the vouchers would be redeemed in. There was also whole milk for kaylasmom (no reduced fat allowed), cheese, eggs, and a choice of cold cereals (Life, Wheat Chex, or Quaker Corn Bran).
Can we take just a moment to look at this phrase, “There but for the grace of God, go I.” Take a good look. Do you see how the underlying implication of this phrase is offensive and cruel? Can we agree to say fortune, instead? Thank you.
Fact is, as long as you are a taxpayer in the US, it is your responsibility to subsidize the war in Iraq. Are you sure that is the argument you want to make?
When you see a car wreck and you say, “There but for the grace of God go I.” you are implying, whether you meant it or not, that the victims of the car wreck do not have the grace of God with them and that you yourself do. That is what is offensive.
Well, it’s true of course. US taxpayers do not have a choice about subsidising the war in Iraq. Once I can be reasonably sure my tax money is not being used to kill people needlessly, I might start to worry about the inherent injustice of using it to help keep children alive.
I have a question: Do the WIC people you know use nothing but ready-to-serve?
Because frankly that would be pretty extravagant. As I recall, when my little ones were born and we transitioned from breast feeding to formula, we used the ready-to-serve formula for outings and the like and the powder for when we were just hanging out around the house. I was doing pretty well financially at the time, but the ready-to-serve formula was really quite expensive.
And there are also those who are like my friend’s sister, who after three kids to three fathers in four years ought to know exactly how they’re getting pregnant and do something about it. She’s on WIC and welfare, none of the fathers work or provide any kind of support, and she just turned 21 this year. She’s had a job for maybe six months total in her life.
Yeah I feel real good about giving her more and more money to have more and more kids. Her brother and her parents also think that it’s disgusting the way she’s used the system.
Yeah my friend’s sister is a lot like that. She doesn’t care who knows she’s on WIC, she seems to be pretty proud of herself for getting money from the government for doing nothing but breeding. Those kids have an uphill battle to escape that kind of life.
Some of them, like my friend’s sister, have been offered free birth control from Planned Parenthood… but they refuse it because it’s too much of a pain in the ass to actually use it.
Nobody likes being scammed by someone like my friend’s sister. The kids she irresponsibly had when she couldn’t take care of them and neither could their fathers are, of course, not to blame, but what do we do about the fact that in her mind, having another kid she can’t afford to another father that won’t be around because she’ll dump him and hook up with someone else before the kid is even born means instant cash rewards?
While people are considering that, she’s working on kid #4 to father #4.
I had twins. Both me and my husband were working-- he was making $14000 a year and I was making $9000. When the kids were born I had to stop working since it cost more than $9000 a year to put them both in daycare.
BTW, the allotment given to us was NOT enough to feed both of them-- dry or RTF-- not by a long shot. I wondered how on Earth those mothers who had only WIC to feed their children did it.
So we ate Ramen noodles and Cream of Wheat and Oatmeal so that our kids could have enough of the formula they needed. Which wasn’t that bad, really. Cream of Wheat makes a fantastic dinner.
We used WIC (a godsend, really) for a little over a year. Sarafeena and those who believe that, since they aren’t on WIC then they deserve better things than those on WIC can kiss my big, black ass. Maybe if she ate Ramen noodles and Cream of Wheat she can afford the “convenience” of RTF.
And now that I remember it correctly, it wasn’t RTF. It was the concentrated liquid since my son could not process the powdered. But hey, let’s pour some powdered crap into him so that Sarafeena can feel superior to those welfare queens!
The discussion isn’t about the facts, which are clear. The discussion is about whether we are a compassionate society that takes care of children in need rather than browbeating their parents who may or may not have made a mistake. Fact is, I send money to veterans organizations to supplement their aftercare, even though I’ve already paid taxes to a war I’m strongly against.
